Meitei alliance, Thadou Inpi demand NRC,ST list revision in Manipur

Representatives of Meitei Alliance and Thadou Inpi Manipur on Friday demanded a National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Manipur, as they called for restoration of peace in the strife torn northeastern state.

The civil society groups held a Meeting on Community Understanding for Peaceful and Harmonious Co-existence. At a conference, they demanded that the term "Any Kuki Tribe" should be removed from the Schedule Tribes List of Manipur, calling it "vague" and "fake."  The Meitei Alliance is a consortium of various Meitei organisations based outside Manipur, while the Thadou Inpi is a civil society organisation representing the Thadou tribe.

At the meeting, Thadou Inpi Manipur was led by M James Thadou, President of Thadou Inpi, Manipur and Meitei Alliance was led by Sagolsem Biramani, the statement said.

The two groups demanded recognition of the "original inhabitants of Manipur, including all its original communities and updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC)" and "delisting of vague or fake nomenclature such as 'Any Kuki tribes' tribe from the Schedule Tribes List of Manipur."  They also demanded preservation and promotion of Manipur as a "cohesive and harmonious multi-ethnic society with a sense of unity, integrity, peace, respect and safety among all members of the society," and of Manipur.

The groups also stressed on acknowledgement of the Thadou Inpi Manipur to promote Thadou identity as independent and distinct from Kuki, and "efforts to overcome community identity misidentification and misinterpretation."  "We have been caught in between Kukis and Meiteis, violence has affected us. We need a platform to assert that Thadou is not Kuki," Michael Lamjathang Haokip, the general secretary of the Thadou Inpi, said.

Asked about the demand of Kuki groups for separate administration as a Union Territory, Michael said they do not have an issue with it, and that it should be raised in a peaceful, democratic manner.

Meitei Alliance representative Major RK Jhaljit (retired), however, said the stand of Meiteis on the issue is non-negotiable and they do not support it.